2010 Top Kiwi Boardgames Announced

Media Release
For Immediate Release

15 September 2010

2010 TOP KIWI BOARDGAMES ANNOUNCED

The New Zealand Games Association has announced the winners of its second annual board game design awards.

Judged by a panel of teachers, children, principals and game enthusiasts the awards are divided into three categories: The New Game of the Year, Teacher’s Choice Award and the Children’s Choice Award.

Mike McManaway inventor of the hugely popular Tantrix which has sold over three million copies world wide, takes top honours with his new strategy game Palago. Jointly created with Aussie mathematician Cameron Browne, Palago is a strategy game using 48 identical two-coloured tiles and two dice.

It can be played as a series of puzzles, a strategic two-player or multi-player game. Launched at the Nuremberg Toy fair in February this year, competitors go head-to-head to create a closed group or a monster-like creature in their colour.

“Palago, the new game from Tantrix inventor Mike McManaway will appeal to anyone who loved the original. It’s bright and colourful and the game’s characters will appeal to children,” says Andrew Baker, New Zealand Games Association.

Winner of the 2010 Teachers Choice award, Riches ‘n Rascals Age of Pyramids, was invented by Auckland based Florence Hassall. It’s a cut-throat board game of piracy, treasure and intrigue. Set in ancient times, players discover the wonders of the world as they trade and pirate their way across the globe. Florence got the idea for Riches’n Rascals over 20 years ago, whilst back packing around Europe. The game is designed for players aged 7-107! “It had the best visual appeal, great re-playability and it’s educational,” commented judge, Judy Nixon, who teaches at Te Puke Intermediate.

Kiwi Quiz takes out the 2010 Children’s Choice award. Inventors David and Margaret Allis from Devonport developed the game in 2006. Supporting the New Zealand school curriculum, Kiwi Quiz is used in over 400 schools throughout New Zealand. Comprising 1600 questions and answers on 400 cards, it offers four levels of challenge so adults and children can easily play together.

Into its seventh print run, Kiwi Quiz covers a range of topics including: history, geography, sports, birds, fauna, animals, politics, famous people, music, place names, literature, business, mathematics, general knowledge and many more. Judge Sally Lloyd, a teacher at Clyde School commented, “I was able to use this as a whole class activity and students could use it as an independent activity too. It’s great because it puts across a lot of Kiwi knowledge that we don’t always have time for in class and that knowledge can be lost.”

ENDS

Background Information:

New Zealand Games Association:
The New Zealand Games Association (NZGA) aims to encourage the development of the game industry in Aotearoa New Zealand, from game design & development, through publishing and sales. Founded in 2009 NZGA has 17 members. NZGA focuses on physical games, including games with boards, cards, dice, tiles, blocks etc. These include all common board, card & family games, as well as quiz games, dexterity games and more. It does not include electronic or computer games, or jigsaw puzzles. www.nzgames.org

Palago
Winner: 2010 Game of the Year
Co-Inventor Mike McManaway founded his company Colour of Strategy with his partner Britta Steude. After studying geology at Canterbury University, he worked briefly for IBM's marketing division before opening a small chain of specialist game and puzzle shops called "Mind Games". A few years later while on a hiking holiday in Patagonia, Mike came up with the idea for Tantrix, which has gone on to sell over three million copies. Colour of Strategy also produces Gravity Trap and Trax. Mike divides his time between the South of France and sunny Nelson. www.colourofstrategy.com
Co-Inventor Cameron Browne is a software engineer, artificial intelligence (AI) researcher and one of the few people with a PhD in game design theory. A reluctant traveller, Cameron started life in Australia, spent a year in Seattle, and now lives in London. He has worked for some of the largest and smallest technology companies in the world but enjoys nothing more than being left alone to work on games. Cameron has written two definitive books on the subject, Connection Games: Variations on a Theme and Hex Strategy: Making the Right Connections.

Riches n’ Rascals Age of Pyramids
Winner: Teacher’s Choice Award
Inventor Florence Hassall who lives in Auckland has had a lifetime fascination with history. While backpacking around Europe over 20 years ago she came up with the initial idea for Riches n’ Rascals. She realised that some of her knowledge of London had come from playing Monopoly as a child. This gave her the desire to create a game that was lots of fun, appealing to children and would educate them about fascinating moments in history. Florence has plans to continue the historical journey with the development of a sequel to Riches n’ Rascals. www.richesnrascals.co.nz

Kiwi Quiz
Winner: Children’s Choice Award
Inventors David and Margaret Allis run their company Edugames from Devonport on Auckland’s North Shore. Unable to find a fun family game that was also educational and could be enjoyed by players of differing abilities, they developed and launched Kiwi Quiz in 2006. With 400 cards containing 1600 questions and answers with four different levels of challenge, Kiwi Quiz is used as an educational resource to support the New Zealand Curriculum in over 400 schools around the country. The next project for David and Margaret is a New Zealand educational quiz game in Maori. Edugames also produces Time Zone and Discover NZ. www.edugames.co.nz

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